


The Little Hidden Magic Shop

by HomeForImaginaryFriends



Series: KuroDai Week 2017 [1]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Magic, KuroDai Week, M/M, Magic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-07
Updated: 2017-05-07
Packaged: 2018-10-29 00:27:34
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,657
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10842651
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HomeForImaginaryFriends/pseuds/HomeForImaginaryFriends
Summary: Sawamura was use to quiet, peaceful days running his little magic shop when a two toned cat showed up and brought with him a powerful witch in the form of Kuroo Tetsurou.  Nothing will be calm after that.





	The Little Hidden Magic Shop

 

Sawamura knew something was off the moment he caught sight of his apprentice.  Normally it was his apprentice that went out on errands while Sawamura watched his shop, but he had needed something from Oikawa to finish one of his jobs.  The last time Sawamura sent Hinata, his gullible apprentice, to deal with Oikawa he had to finagle his way out of a binding contract with the other man.  Sawamura had no idea why Oikawa took such pleasure from torturing him but it was best to deal with the mage himself.  Though that did mean leaving Hinata in charge of the shop, which was another thing Sawamura didn’t like to do.

 

Hinata showed a wellspring of potential, but all the potential in the world didn’t make him less scatterbrained and easily distracted.  The shop looked and felt fine to Sawamura, but the guilty, almost manic smile the ginger boy was throwing at him made all sorts of warning bells go off in Sawamura’s head.

 

Sawamura placed the package he had gotten from Oikawa onto the front counter, turning his head left and then slowly right as he took in the state of his shop.  It wasn’t even really his shop, he was looking after it for the Ukai’s who had more businesses than they knew what to do with.  The eldest Ukai stayed out in the country, working on his highly profitable farm while his grandson ran a food shop in the middle of the city market.  Sawamura was glad to run the small magics shop, almost hidden away down a twisted alley where most didn’t venture unless they knew the shop was there in the first place.

 

“You might as well tell me what you’ve done.”  Sawamura carefully unwrapped the package.  Oikawa might be a tricky bastard but he was down right brilliant with potions, and it was the last ingredient Sawamura had needed to finish a job for a client.

 

“Um- I- well you see- it’s raining!”  Hinata stuttered, fingers twitching in mid air.  Sawamura hummed in agreement, he had just come in from the rain after all.  “So I couldn’t let him stay out there!”  Sawamura stopped unwrapping the tiny vile and turned to look at his apprentice fully.

 

“Him?”  Sawamura asked carefully.  Hinata slumped, body pulled down and if Sawamura hadn’t built up an immunity towards Hinata’s powerful puppy dog eyes he might have caved right then.  Hinata motioned to something on his side of the counter so Sawamura walked around and knelt next to Hinata, looking into one of the cubbies that usually stored extra parchment or quills.  It was stuffed full of a soft blue blanket.

 

Golden eyes peered out from the dark corner of the cubby, staring at Sawamura for the count of three before closing slowly.  Sawamura could barely make out the soft purring over the sound of rain on the wooden roof.

 

“Can you feel that?”  Sawamura asked, resigning himself to a fate of dealing with a hyperactive apprentice and a spoiled cat.

 

“He’s magic right?”  Hinata asked, carefully reaching out and lighting scratching the cat behind his ears.  Sawamura could make out the two-toned colors and was half surprised when the purring got louder.

 

“He’s most likely someone's familiar, so don’t get too attached.”  Sawamura stood up, cringing as his knee popped.  He’d most likely have to go see Sugawara soon, the old injury had never healed right and was in constant need of a healer's touch.  It was unlikely that Sawamura would have kicked any animal out in the dreary weather, but he’d be extra careful with someone's familiar.  Despite how he liked to get a rise out of Oikawa, Sawamura tended to not mess with anyone powerful enough to have a magicked familiar.  Hopefully when the rain stopped the cat would be on his merry way, though he seemed to have taken a liking to Hinata.

 

“I heard a witch once had a dragon as a familiar.”  Hinata jumped up in excitement as he followed Sawamura to the backroom, where several large tomes and different ingredients were laid out.

 

“The size of a familiar does not necessarily mean a person is powerful.”  Sawamura cleared a small space before motioning to it.  Hinata stood in front of the cleared space.

 

“Iwaizumi has a wolf as a familiar.”  Hinata wasn’t arguing, just pointing out something else he thought was noteworthy.  In truth Iwaizumi’s wolf, Kyoutani, was no ordinary wolf but a man with a powerful curse put on him.  It wasn’t a well known fact, too many would try to steal Kyoutani away if they knew, but Iwaizumi had trusted Sawamura with the well-guarded secret.  They had been in the Knights Guard together after all, there was a strong kinship shared between them, and Iwaizumi wanted to know if Sawamura knew of anything that could break the curse.

 

“Kyoutani is very loyal to Iwaizumi,” Sawamura said without confirming or denying Hinata’s assumptions.  Sawamura didn’t like lying as a rule, but it was not his secret to tell.  “I want you to make a Finder Charm.”  Charms were simple and easy magic, and if Hinata messed it up then nothing horrible would happen from any mistakes.  Hinata hummed and got to work and Sawamura stepped back to observe.

 

The two-toned cat was perched on a stack of books on the large table.  He was on the small side, lean and obviously well cared for.  He sat gracefully, looking as if he knew what Hinata was doing.  That wasn’t exactly uncommon.  Depending on how long a person has had a familiar and how much power they had shared with the creature, the animal could become quite intelligent.  Cats were intelligent to begin with and despite old myths, they did not make good familiars.  Dogs and birds were much easier, cats tended to have far too much independence to make good familiars.

 

The cat leaned down a long front leg pawing at a small chunk of amethyst before it rolled gently over to Hinata.

 

“Ah!  That’s just what I needed.”  Hinata chirped happily.  The cat almost looked like it was smiling, just a little, giving a satisfied swish of his tail as he continued to watch over the ginger man.

 

Sawamura ran a hand through his damp hair, not having escaped from the rain completely dry, before making his way back into the main area of the shop as he heard the bell above the door ring.

 

“Ushijima, good to see you.”  Sawamura stood behind the counter as he observed the large man walk gracefully through the store.

 

“Greetings,” Ushijima bowed fluidly, not a single movement wasted.  Sawamura had been a bit wary when the man had entered his store the first time.  Ushijima was well known and a Earth Mage on top of it.  The large man was blunt and honest, always straight forward and he didn’t always seem to understand social cues but Sawamura found himself striking an easy acquaintanceship with the other man.

 

“What can I do for you?”  Sawamura took the parcel that he had gotten from Oikawa and put it underneath the counter.

 

“I have snails.”  Ushijima frowned, which really wasn’t that much of a difference from his normal look.  Sawamura had seen the man smile a handful of times, and it was quite the sight.  It broke up his stoic face and was like the sun peeking behind clouds.  “I do not wish to kill them but I do not have time to research the proper way to stop them from eating my garden.  The King has asked me to travel to the country, several farms are reporting large crop failure.”

 

“Hmm.”  Sawamura leaned his hip against the counter, crossing his arms over his chest as he cycled through the various books he had read.  There were several names for what Sawamura did, but he preferred the term Spell Weaver.  It was simple and told others what he did just from the title alone.  Sawamura wove spells, or magic, into items.  He had very little magic of his own, just enough to bind other magics into items.

 

Sawamura also liked Ushijima because he never felt the need to fill the silence.  He just let Sawamura think and process, allowed him the soft moment of quiet he needed to figure out a solution.

 

“I believe I have something, it won’t hurt your garden and it won’t kill the snails.”  Sawamura was already mentally making a list of things he would need for it, and figuring out where exactly that old gardeners journal was at.

 

“I am leaving tomorrow, but Ohira will be available to pick it up.”  They worked out a couple more details before Ushijima thanked Sawamura and left the store.

 

Sawamura began searching for the old journal in the back, asking Hinata to help any of the clients who came in so he could start on his work.  The spells to repel the snails would have to be put into something, most likely a stone but Sawamura would have to research various stones to make sure they wouldn’t effect the garden negatively.  Ushijima loved his garden more than anything and Sawamura did not want to be the reason it was ruined.  No one wanted to anger an Earth Mage.

 

It was a week later when Sawamura was in the back, putting the final touches on a client's robe.  They wanted it to look like the robe was billowing in the wind, even if there was no wind to make it fly dramatically behind them.  Sawamura had no idea why Terushima wanted the things he did, he was a dramatic guy and always came in with the most odd requests but he was a regular client who, despite his carefree attitude, always paid in full and on time.  The cat had become somewhat of a fixture in the small shop, found mostly perching on Hinata’s shoulder when the shop was empty but he tended to squeeze himself into small, hidden places when it got busy.

 

Sawamura was putting on the robe, watching as it flew behind him in the windless backroom with an exasperated shake of his head.  He heard the door chime and felt something graze against his senses.  Sawamura carefully took off the robe, wrapping it neatly as he carefully listened to the front room as Hinata chirped out a nervous hello.  Most new customers made Hinata nervous, though he was all happy chatter and loud exclamations as soon as he got to know them.

 

New customers stumbled upon the store every once and awhile.  The store was old and tended to pick who it allowed to see it, but the people who walked in through the front door were powerful and most powerful people didn’t bother with a small Spell Weavers shop.

 

“Hello,” Sawamura greeted as he stepped out of the backroom to see three men scattered around his store.  They were dressed in black and red, which made Sawamura want to immediately show them the door.  Sawamura didn’t have a problem with foreigners, but these were part of the royal entourage visiting from the capital and they tended to have a sense of self-importance and inflated egos.

 

There was a tall, slim man with dark skin over by the books while a shorter man with light brown hair kneeling down to look at the row of charms on the bottom shelf of a bookcase.  The man Sawamura was currently concerned with was leaning over the counter, pushing into Hinata’s space with a cheshire cat grin that clearly portrayed that he knew exactly how uncomfortable he was making Hinata.  He didn’t even glance at Sawamura’s entrance.

 

“I’m looking for something, think you can help me with that?”  The man with black hair asked, using his height to push even closer to Hinata.  Sawamura took a step forward, feeling his own face break into a scowl but before anything could happen the cat hopped up onto the counter and hit the man right in the nose.

 

It wasn’t a hard hit, Sawamura could tell that much, and no claws were used.  It was almost as if the cat was gently chiding the tall man, who had drawn back in surprise before a big, and genuine, grin split his face.

 

“Kenma, so this is where you’ve been hiding.”  The other two men moved close to their friend by the counter, though no one crowded the cat.

 

“We were worried,” The shortest man said, face twisting between disapproval and relief.  Sawamura felt his stomach clench a little as he gave the cat another once over.  Not a familiar at all, not by the way the men were acting towards him.  He had a shapeshifter in his shop for an entire week and hadn’t known.  No wonder he had seemed so intelligent.  Out of everyone in the store at that moment, Sawamura had no doubt that the shapeshifter was the most powerful.

 

“His name is Kenma?”  Hinata stepped forward, the new knowledge making his nerves slip away.  Kenma the shapeshifting cat leaned up, pushing his small head into the underside of Hinata’s chin with clear contentment.

 

Sawamura was ready to retire.

 

“Oh ho ho, what’s this then?  You’ve made a friend?”  The troublemaker with the bad hair face went sharp again.  Sawamura had had enough and stepped forward.

 

“I’m guessing this is your cat,” If the shapeshifter wanted to pretend to be a familiar than Sawamura was not going to argue with that.  “My apprentice found him outside during a storm last week.  Is there anything else I can help you with?”  It was a not so subtle push for them to take their cat and leave but he had gotten the smirking man's attention now.

 

“I’m Kuroo, these are my associates Kai and Yaku.”  Kuroo motioned to each man.  Kai smiled a little but Yaku rolled his eyes skyward at the word associate.

 

“Sawamura, and this is my apprentice Hinata.”  Sawamura introduced, he could never quite ignore his manners.  Kuroo now leaned closer to Sawamura, smirking in an infuriating way.  It didn’t pass Sawamura’s notice that the man was quite a bit taller than him, and enjoyed using that height to his advantage.

 

“I would like to commission a protection charm.”  Kuroo said with a satisfied look as Sawamura bit back a groan and forced himself to smile politely.  “We were asked here by your king to suss out a problem in your mountains and it would be good to go in with all the protection we can get.”

 

“And when would you need this charm by?”  Sawamura asked, already feeling a headache coming on.

 

“We leave by midday.”  Kuroo looked absolutely delighted.  He had to know that Sawamura couldn’t refuse.  A protection charm wouldn’t take long, not for Sawamura to do, but it often required for the person who wants the protection to be right there.

 

“If you’ll follow me back here, I can start right away.”   _ And get you out of here _ , went unsaid.

 

Kuroo sat down in one of the old wooden chairs while Sawamura began to gather up the items necessary to make a protection charm.  The backroom was organized chaos, and Sawamura had to admit that was mostly his doing.  Hinata kept things organized in the front but the backroom was Sawamura’s domain and he knew where everything was.  Well, mostly everything.  Everything important.

 

The air was tense and Sawamura told himself it was because an unknown and powerful witch was in his shop.  But Sawamura wouldn’t let that, or his slight dislike for the smirking man, to weigh on his magic.  Intent mattered with magic, it was why people continued to come back to Sawamura because his intent was always clear and honest.  Those who wished ill will tended to have warped magic.

 

Sawamura ignored the ache in his knee as he settled his items near Kuroo, who had remained surprisingly quiet the couple of moments it took for Sawamura to gather his supplies.  He should have gone to see Sugawara a while ago but the shop had been busy and he didn’t like leaving Hinata alone for too long.  The pain was manageable, though annoying, and so he pushed it to the back of his mind as he looked over at Kuroo.

 

Kuroo smirked up at him, tilting his head as he stretched out his long arms.  They were covered in bangles and bracelets, various spells and enchantments that made Sawamura’s skin buzz.  Sawamura scowled down at him, eyes looking for a spare spot to place the charm before he grinned in victory.

 

“Head down please.”  Sawamura nudged the other man's head gently.  Mostly Sawamura could always hold his air of professionalism, but something about Kuroo tugged at him.  Made him want to pull on his messy hair or flick the gold and silver earrings.  It was an odd feeling and one Sawamura was just going to ignore for the time being.

 

“You’re going to weave it into my hair?”  Kuroo asked though he didn’t protest, moving his head so Sawamura could run his fingers through Kuroo’s hair, only to work out the knots of course.

 

“Everywhere else is taken.”  Sawamura was glad Kuroo’s hair was on the longer side, it was messy but soft and the other man seemed to accept Sawamura’s gentle prodding without complaint.  “I don’t have to worry about your Kenma, do I?”  Sawamura began to weave small beads into Kuroo’s hair, starting with black obsidian for spiritual protection.  Protection charms were made up of many different components, Sawamura had a little bit of jade and calcite and smoky quartz, along with a little bit of silver and twine with a lone crows feather, though Sawamura wasn’t quite sure why he had grabbed the last one.

 

“He likes your apprentice,” Kuroo’s shoulders were relaxed, his eyes closed and he hummed softly.  “If he was more ambitious we might all be in trouble, but mostly he just likes warm places and naps.”  Sawamura felt his mouth twitch at that.  Some might think it was a waste of power, but Sawamura knew what it was like to turn away from the path chosen from you.  If Kenma wanted to spend most of his time as a cat then that was no business of Sawamura’s.  “The real question is, what is an elite knight doing running a rundown shop?”

 

“Excuse me, this shop is not rundown.”  Sawamura pressed his knuckle into Kuroo’s scalp, though not with too much pressure, just a gentle reprimand.  Most people who knew what to look for guessed that Sawamura was a soldier, though not many guessed he was an elite knight.  “How did you guess?”  Sawamura thought it might be something to do with the way he walked or stood, years of training engraved in him, and Sugawara said he always stood very straight.

 

“The way you stepped in front of your apprentice even though you were clearly outmanned and outpowered.”  Kuroo answered easily and it surprised Sawamura.  He hadn’t even thought of it in those terms, hadn’t realized he had moved in front of Hinata even after the initial danger had passed.  It was clear Kuroo and the others thought Kenma had been in some sort of trouble.  “Plus you’ve got that knightly look people love, all strong jaw and dark eyes.”  Sawamura couldn’t tell if that was an insult or compliment, guessed it was a little of both and decided to ignore it for now.

 

“The war was over.”  Sawamura gave him the answer he gave everyone.  The Ogres War had been over for five years, though Sawamura’s knee never let him forget it.

 

“There’s always another war to fight.”  Kuroo said quickly and Sawamura’s hands faltered for a moment because it was true.

 

“My war was over.”  Sawamura corrected after a moment of silence, his fingers moving without much thought put behind them.  It was going so smoothly that it took Sawamura a moment to notice it.  Things such as protection charms placed directly onto a person were sometimes difficult because that person had to have a level of trust shared with the Spell Weaver.  It was easiest on friends and family, but this was the first time Sawamura had met Kuroo and the spell was weaving itself together nearly seamlessly.

 

“Because of your knee?”  Sawamura made a disgruntled noise, both towards Kuroo’s invasive question and the irregularity of his own magic.  Sawamura liked Spell Weaving because it was simplistic and it was steady, it wasn’t suppose to change.  “You’re favoring it, you should sit up on the table and I can put my head in your lap.”  Kuroo smirked, though it wasn’t as harsh as his previous ones.  Sawamura flicked the top golden hop in Kuroo’s ear, earning a soft whine from the man.

 

“I think I’ll pass.”  Sawamura rubbed the black tourmaline between his fingers, felt the magic of the small bead before he placed it on the end, tying it off with a thin piece of yellow string.  “I’m nearly done anyways.”  It should have taken longer, Sawamura couldn’t help but think about it as he placed the pitch black crow's feather on the end.  Many people thought crows were bad luck but Sawamura had always found them as a good sign, he suddenly felt a little uneasy about the fact that he had grabbed the feather without thinking about it.

 

“You should still hop up on the table.”  Kuroo leant back, grinning up at Sawamura in a way that was equal parts boyish and impish.  Sawamura crossed his arms over his chest and gave him a flat look.  “I think I can help with the pain, at least until you can see a proper healer.  Let me repay you for taking care of Kenma.”

 

“Doubtful he needs anyone to take care of him.”  Sawamura grumbled out to hide the fact that he was actually considering it.  He had a lot of jobs to finish and most likely wouldn’t be able to make it to Sugawara for another fortnight.  His knee was bothering him.

 

“I promise not to touch you anywhere besides your knee,” Kuroo moved the heavy chair backwards, giving Sawamura plenty of space to hop up onto the table.  Sawamura sighed and took a seat up on the sturdy table.  To people who didn’t know him, Sawamura seemed like an unmovable object, and he could be as stubborn as anyone but he tended not to argue against good advice.  If Kuroo was willing to repay Sawamura by helping ease the pain from his old injury, than Sawamura knew better than to argue with that.

 

“Why are you looking at me like that?”  Sawamura asked, almost instantly regretting his decision.

 

“You’re kind of a big pushover.”  Kuroo grinned, dodging Sawamura’s half hearted attempt to kick him before he moved to sit on the edge of his chair.  His fingers with long and thin, with large knuckles and covered in little cuts and various rings.  He cup his left hand under Sawamura’s knee while his right one gently pressed against the top.  Sawamura could almost instantly feel the Kuroo’s magic circulating around Sawamura’s injured knee.  It was much like the man himself, a little harsh but gentle all the same.  “Whoever healed this in the first place was a hack.”  Kuroo frowned and Sawamura couldn’t help but smile as he looked up at the ceiling.  Sugawara had said the same thing, though that had been covering up genuine concern.

 

“Not his fault, he only knew the bare essentials.”  It had been Iwaizumi who had patched Sawamura up, as the higher ups had thought Sawamura wouldn’t be worth the magic extended to save him.  “And it was a hammer that did it, wasn’t really much he could do.”

 

“What?”  Kuroo was too skilled to let his magic be affected by his shock, but his fingers pressed slightly harder against Sawamura’s knee.

 

“Ogre’s like big blunt objects to swing around.”  Sawamura looked down, not quite sure why he was telling Kuroo this.  He didn’t much like talking about the Ogre War.

 

“How are you still even walking?”  Kuroo asked, his magic feeling cooling against Sawamura’s irrated skin.

 

“Stubbornness.”  He had a cane but he didn’t use it much, despite Sugawara’s constant worry.  Eventually the knee would stop working properly, but until then Sawamura preferred walking on his own.

 

“How does that feel?”  Kuroo pulled his hand away, fingers lightly touching Sawamura’s calf before falling away.

 

It felt better, not healed but the pain was much more manageable.  It surprised Sawamura, how easy it was and how quickly Kuroo had performed the spell.  He thought it might be because Kuroo was more powerful than Sawamura had initially thought, but he didn’t think that was the case.  There was something more.

 

Sawamura felt his heart pick up a beat when Kuroo smiled up at him, a real true smile and something clicked into place.

 

Magic was an extension of a person, a tie to their soul.  Having two people whose magic meshes almost perfectly is rare.  Sawamura only knew of two people that it had happened to, Hinata and Sugawara’s own apprentice Kageyama.  It didn’t necessarily mean they were romantically entangled, though many people went down that path if they found that person.  Hinata and Kageyama would never be anything more than friends on their very best of days.

 

Sawamura had felt it from the very beginning, the second Kuroo had walked into his shop.  It was why Sawamura’s charm had gone off so smoothly, why his knee felt better.  Their magic was flowing perfectly together.  Kuroo must have felt it when he entered the shop too, Sawamura’s magic permeated the store and he must have assumed it came from Hinata.  That’s why he had been pushing into Hinata’s space.

 

It wasn’t just the magic if Sawamura was being perfectly honest.  He found himself liking Kuroo’s prodding and teasing more than he thought he should, especially considering they had just met.  Sawamura liked that Kuroo was powerful enough to send out minions to find Kenma, but had come instead himself.  He liked how sharp Kuroo’s wit seemed.

 

Sawamura also seemed to like Kuroo’s physical appearance more than he was willing to admit.  His sharp features with a wide mouth and heavily hooded eyes.  Sawamura liked how the tips of Kuroo’s earring clad ears were just a bit pointed and stuck out from his mess of thick hair.  Sawamura liked how the black crow's feather almost disappeared into that mess of hair, as if it belonged their.

 

“If you wouldn’t mind housing Kenma for a while longer, I can pick him up after we’ve searched the mountains.”  Kuroo stood up, long and lean and impossibly attractive.

 

“That will make Hinata happy.”  Sawamura answered, moving off of the desk and running a hand through his short hair.  He had the rugged pulled out from under him and was trying to find his footing again.

 

“I think I might stay here a while, country air is suppose to be wonderful for the mind.”  Kuroo leaned closer to Sawamura, not allowing him to create much distance between them.  Sawamura sighed, shouldering past Kuroo as he thought about having a shapeshifter and a foreign witch hanging around his shop all the time.

 

The days of peaceful living seemed gone, but Sawamura couldn’t help but feel as if that might just be a good thing.

 

“There’s a moss that only grows in the highest caves in the mountains, if you bring me some I’ll cook you dinner.”  That moss would make Oikawa very happy and Sawamura needed a couple things from the man.  “I’ll cook you all dinner.”  Sawamura stammered out, rubbing the back of his neck when he realized he had the attention of Kuroo’s two friends and Hinata when they walked out of the back of the office.

 

“Sawamura!  Kenma is a shapeshifter!”  Hinata cheered happily.  Yes, his quiet days were done with.

**Author's Note:**

> Kurodai week is here and I'm already late on the first day.


End file.
